Education support moving forward

We strongly disagree with your editorial “A step back for education,” May 5, which criticized what is a fair agreement to provide a safety net for aspiring teachers.

The state Department of Education switched to the edTPA in March 2012 after working for three years with Pearson Inc. to develop a new assessment for student-teacher candidates. It would have been illogical for New York’s teaching colleges and universities to revamp curriculum and begin instituting new requirements for students before the Board of Regents made a definitive decision to use edTPA for certification.

New York State United Teachers and its higher education affiliates at SUNY and CUNY fully support professionally based standards for aspiring teachers — but they have to be fair. The agreement reached with the state education department protects students who followed the rules, successfully completed their teacher preparation programs and passed a valid certification test. In addition, a task force of education experts, including faculty representatives from SUNY and CUNY, will now work collaboratively with the education department to refine the edTPA assessment.

New York is providing an important safety net for current students and involving stakeholders in working toward a better, stronger and more valid certification exam. That’s not a step back, that’s a strong step forward.